A Midsummer Night's Dream Character Analysis

A Dream Come True “When you are in love and you get hurt, it’s like a cut, it will heal, but there will always be a scar.” This anonymous quote accurately describes Helena’s attitude towards love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Helena is one of the main characters in this play. She is hopelessly in love with a man named Demetrius who unfortunately does not love her in return. After an eventful night involving the pair and two other characters (lovers Hermia and Lysander), some meddling fairies, and a considerable amount of love juice, Helena’s perspective on love changes. By the end of the play, she secures the happily ever after she so dearly longs for at the beginning, but that cannot erase the hurt she experiences throughout the comedy. Helena has only ever felt the pain of love which later causes her to be skeptical of love’s continuity once it is gained. Helena endures much hurt throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Readers learn early on of an event that occurred before the play even began. Helena was in a relationship with Demetrius, but he abandoned her for Hermia. However, Helena is still head over heels for him and

By scene one of act four, the meddling fairies who mixed up the romances have made it all right. Lysander loves Hermia once again while Demetrius is still in love with Helena. All is well: the couples are to be married, and the previous night with all its craziness feels like a dream to them. However, Helena still has her doubts as she reflects, “And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,/Mine own and not mine own” (4.1.199-200). She compares love to a jewel: temporary and never genuinely possessed. Demetrius came back to her so quickly and so easily; therefore, Helena thinks their love could be lost as just quickly as it was found. She understands that he is now hers, but she is skeptical of how long his love towards her will